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646 THE NAI PROFILE

the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical of the interests of all of us. That’s been really fun
Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, because I get to learn a lot of new science and raise
the American Association for the Advancement of awareness about areas that they don’t know anything
Science, and the Society for Photooptical Instrumen- about. I get to help out wherever I’m needed, without
tation Engineering; a 2017 inductee of the National having to push a personal agenda. In that context,
Inventors Hall of Fame; and a two-time recipient of I’m working with Glenn Walker on microfluidics and
Presidential Rank Awards. making disposable pumps that are programmable
Because her research interests have ranged widely, and can be used to drive microfluidic systems for less
Ligler has had major impacts in many key areas, than a penny. We actually have a patent filed on that
including bioterror defense, environmental mon- technology, and we’re trying to get it to the point of
itoring, food safety, and drug delivery. Her early being ready for commercialization.
work focused heavily on biosensors. In this field, she A second project I’m working with several profes-
did seminal work on the development of detection sors on is in the tissue-on-chip area. Before I came
systems based on optical biosensor technology, devel- down here, Michael Daniele and I figured out how
oping portable, automated biosensors for detection to use microfluidics to make capillaries by the meter
of everything from pathogens to pollutants to explo- with cells inside them. These microvessels really reca-
sives. These sophisticated biosensors provide data pitulate new capillaries, and we’re using them to make
for high-impact decisions; for example, the military vascularized tissue on the chip. With investigator Ke
fielded Ligler’s biothreat detection systems during Cheng, from the College of Veterinary Medicine at
Desert Storm for base protection. More recently, she NC State, we have actually made tissue patches that
has moved into other areas, such as microfluidics and we’ve used to restore function in rat hearts following
tissue-on-chip. She and her fellow researchers are a heart attack. We’ll be doing pigs next because it
already making great strides, showing early positive actually works amazingly well. The patches stimulate
results in the use of microfluidic strategies for cre- vasculature and muscle tissue to reform in areas that
ating materials laden with cells that can be used to would ordinarily fill with scar tissue, and that’s pretty
mimic natural tissue and organ function, a potential exciting.
game-changer in regenerative medicine. Ligler has The other area I’m working on is engineering drug
also been an exemplar in the translation of research delivery with Zhen Gu, a rather incredible faculty
to commercial products and has been instrumental member. The idea is to make smart materials that
in stimulating important collaborative research and control release of insulin automatically for diabetic
educational initiatives at NC State and UNC-Chapel patients. When glucose is high, insulin is released,
Hill. and when glucose goes back to a normal level, the
Dr. Ligler recently granted an interview to T&I, in release stops. The smart material is introduced
which she discusses her exciting new work in micro- painlessly either into the skin or just below the skin.
fluidics and tissue-on-chip, the innovative research Mouse studies show that you don’t have to monitor
and educational collaborations between UNC-Chapel glucose levels to keep the correct amount of insulin
Hill and NC State, and the value in leading from in the bloodstream. Now we are trying to scale up
behind. to perform similar studies in larger animals prior to
testing in people.
INTERVIEW
T&I: The diversity of your work strikes me. Could
T&I: Why don’t you tell me a little about some of the you talk about how working with people from dif-
current projects you’ve been working on? ferent disciplines drives and promotes cutting-edge
work?
Ligler: I don’t have my own lab, but I support four
postdocs that I have placed in more junior profes- Ligler: My interest is two-fold. I find the science
sors’ labs, usually assistant professors, so we can do very exciting, but I’m also interested in helping the
something that’s not tied to a grant—something that young faculty members (as well as the postdocs)
can be pretty innovative and follow the intersections build successful careers. I’m basically there to fill in